Many, many, many thanks to the beta-reader of this story - lmbrtvll !!!
One year ago.
It was their seventh anniversary. Chase decided that they should celebrate that day every year - the day he got fired, the day Cameron quit, the day she showed up at his doorstep.
They went their favorite sushi bar and had finished eating and were waiting for a bill. They sat in silence as Chase admired his wife from across the table.
"Is something bothering you? You seem kind of out today?" Chase asked, with a small smile on his face.
Cameron shook her head, but then suddenly blurted out, "I want to have a baby."
Chase was dumbfounded. At that particular moment the waiter approached them and Chase busied himself with settling the bill. Then without uttering a word he helped her into her coat and they went outside.
She was walking towards the car, like nothing had happened, but he stopped her by grabbing her elbow. They couldn't ignore this.
"Cameron, wait." He was smiling at her. He had wanted to have a kid for so long, but was afraid to ask her. She loved her job and a baby might have put her career on hold.
She was looking at the ground, unable to look him in the eye.
"I'm sorry, it's just... I'm 35... and if not now... then when?" she sounded like she was rationalizing her decision.
"Cameron, you don't have to explain anything. I want to have a baby... I really do."
"I know..." He was surprised that she sounded even more upset after he confessed that he wanted to have child as well.
Chase silently followed her to the car.
--- --- ---
Six month ago.
"I'm sorry, Chase, it must be the pills. I used them for too long. They could cause permanent hormonal problems."
"What did Dr. Maverick say?"
"You don't trust me? I'm a doctor too, you know!" Cameron was angry. She could see that Chase was really upset about it, and it annoyed her too much. "Maybe you want House to run a differential diagnosis on me?!"
"Do you really want to have a baby?" He asked her suspiciously.
"It was my idea!"
"Maybe you want someone else to be the father?"
"Don't be silly, Chase." She came closer and took his hands in hers. "Everything will work out eventually. We just need to be patient. They didn't find anything that could have prevented me from having the baby, so maybe it's just something that will pass on it's own."
Chase nodded his head, then got up and left the room.
--- --- ---
One week ago.
"I got an offer."
"Cuddy wants you to run one more department?" Chase asked jokingly.
"No, it's from Arizona. They would like to have me back..." She carefully studied his expression. Chase had a very expressive face, you could read him so easily.
"Arizona? What did they offer you?"
"A position as Head of the Diagnostic department."
Chase was silent. There wasn't much he could say. She had the right to choose her job, now it was time for him to make his own decision.
There wasn't any need to explain to her that even if he wasn't officially department head, in reality he was. House was spending more and more time working at home, mainly just consulting on the most difficult cases, all the rest was his own call.
There really wasn't much for Chase to think about. "It's ok... I can go back to surgery."
She smiled sadly at him. And her heart broke at the thought that he was ready to give up everything just to be with her and she was about to break him completely.
"I don't want you to quit... I want to move... alone..."
--- --- ---
Present.
House entered the bar and quickly spotted his friend at the far corner in the booth.
"Hey." Wilson offered him the drink.
"That was very thoughtful of you, Dr. Wilson." He took a sip, "Have you seen my wombat recently?"
"No, they broke up, as you already know. Cuddy said he took a vacation."
"I know, because now I have to spend every fucking day in my office, which looks more like an Australian zoo, because every patient feels obligated to thank Dr. Chase with a stuffed kangaroo or koala bear.
"Why don't you visit him?"
"I would, if I knew where he was."
"Maybe his old place. It was Cameron moving, not him."
"He left the first day she told him she was leaving. Then he followed your steps and became a resident at the Holiday Inn. And now I can't find him. He doesn't even answer his pages."
"Maybe he went home?" Wilson asked casually, but preparing for a verbal attack from House for his suggestion.
"Home?! To do what? He'll never set his foot back in Australia." Suddenly realization hit him. He looked up at oncologist.
"Do you think he'll be back?" Wilson questioned softly.
House shook his head and emptied his glass in one gulp.
A/N: I was cleaning my docs and found this little piece. It was written a long time ago and I was going to make it into a long multi-chapter fic with Cameron having a baby and eventual Chameron, but sadly I can't do it anymore. Thank you very much for reading and please let me know your thoughts - it means a lot! For readers of my other story "Unsigned Statement" - I didn't abandon it! I'm really really sorry it's taking so long to update, I just can't nail right the final House/Chase dialog. Besides now I'm translating this story to my mother language and it's much more than just translation - I'm revising it as well. So I hope it will help me to end the story much better. Thank you very much for all of your comments and please forgive me for such a long delay.
